LOS ANGELES (KGTV and AP) -- Court documents show 77 immigrants who entered the country illegally were discovered inside a truck by officers conducting a traffic stop in East San Diego County near the Mexico border.
A Border Patrol agent was driving near the Campo Indian Reservation near the community of Boulevard on Monday when he saw a California Highway Patrol vehicle near a large brown truck, according to court records. The truck appeared to have the markings of a UPS truck.
The agent noticed the vehicle was riding low and smelled body odor combined with a soap commonly used in Mexico, documents said. The CHP officer reported the truck's had no license plate and had been weaving on the road.
The truck's driver, Shawn Lee Seiler, told the Border Patrol agent the truck was his and gave consent to a search, according to court filings. The agent opened the rear of the truck and found people standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the cargo area.
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Court documents show Seiler told the agent he was paid $100 per person to transfer the group into the United States, and that Seiler believed 50 people were in the truck.
UPS officials confirmed to 10News the truck did not belong to the company and had been painted with an imitation UPS logo.
The documents say the group of Mexican nationals, which included five children, admitted entering the U.S. illegally.
